FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – A $1.5 million bond has been set for a South Florida retiree charged with 100 counts of child pornography.

Court records show 66-year-old John Jefferson Field, of Coral Springs, was arrested Monday, November 28th and booked into the Broward County Main Jail.

He appeared in bond court before Broward Circuit Judge John “Jay” Hurley Tuesday morning.

According to a Broward Sheriff’s Office report read in open court by Judge Hurley, Field was arrested near SE 21st Avenue for allegedly taking photographs of young girls who were showering on Deerfield Beach.

Lifeguard Brian Bencin said he and two other lifeguards spotted Field photographing young girls at the shower and red flags went up.

“He was getting excited over little kids,” said Bencin. “He couldn’t take his eyes off them, actually hid behind a tractor focused on the children in the shower.”

When Broward Sheriff’s deputy Fernando Padron questioned Field, he reportedly referred to himself as a pedophile.

“He said his biggest fetish was buttocks, he fantasizes, it started back in Virginia when he took kids in the woods and played with them,” said Padron.

“You told police you have something much worse than a fetish,” said Judge Hurley as he outlined the charges against him.

Field told the judge he cares for his elderly mother and had no private assets.

“You said you did this because this is the only place young girls take their clothes off. When police searched your computer at your Coral Springs home, they found 50-thosand of these images,” said Judge Hurley.

BSO deputy Fernando Padron questioned Field and said that Field called himself a pedophile and, “his biggest fetish is buttock. It started back in Virginia where he says he took kids in the woods and had them undress and played with him.

When investigators went to Field’s home in Coral Springs, they said they found a hard drive with 50,000 images of child porn. Most of the pron was of girls between the ages of one and twelve.

The judge told Field he would like to hold him with no bond but that the law would not allow him to do so. Instead, he set a steep bond of one and a half million dollars.

“Parents need to be aware this is going on and he was adding it to his personal collection,” said Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti.

The South Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force helped worked on the case along with the Broward Sheriff’s Office.

Joan Murray

Joan Murray is an award winning reporter who joined CBS Miami in August 2001 shortly before the September 11th attacks. She was among the first to report the South Florida connection to the terrorists.
In her many years reporting in South Florida...